In 2000, Goldie H. Burge founded a life science-based K–12 charter school in Laveen, AZ. This unique environment—filled with farm animals, gardens, and expeditions—used hands-on, multi-sensory teaching to reach all learners. It became the foundation for a Christian experiential learning college, blending faith, nature, and education to shape lives.
Over the years, students traveled to all 48 contiguous states, Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize. These expeditions enriched their understanding of history, science, and geology, while also providing powerful social and emotional growth. The impact was especially profound for low-income and special needs students, who began graduating at the top of their classes and earning full scholarships.

As alumni returned and expressed how much they missed the school’s immersive learning style, a new vision emerged. Goldie realized that the biological research stations used for K–12 expeditions could serve a greater purpose—one that would extend experiential learning into higher education. The idea of launching a faith-based college began to take root.

The goal was simple yet ambitious: create a college where education majors and science students learn through real-life labs. Add fieldwork and international study. Keep it all grounded in Christian values and purpose.

In Fall 2025, the College of Science and Education officially opened in Laveen, AZ. The campus includes a working barnyard, greenhouses, gardens, and a ZooQuarium Museum with over 100 living animal species and hundreds of preserved specimens from deserts, rainforests, mountains, and marine biomes. Students engage in hands-on labs, a dinosaur and fossil collection, and real fieldwork at biological stations in Arizona, the U.S., Costa Rica, and Belize.

This living campus is designed to give students direct experience in natural sciences, education, and conservation—all while embracing the college’s Christian mission.

CSE also serves as a lab school for education majors, who gain practical classroom experience in the same K–12 environment where it all began. Students learn to teach using research-backed, experiential methods that benefit every type of learner, from gifted to special needs.

Above all, students at CSE are invited into a journey of discovery—of self, of creation, and of God’s purpose. As a Christian experiential learning college, CSE equips students not only with academic knowledge but with the tools to live, teach, and serve with heart, skill, and faith.